Colleagues:
A number of people replied to my 3/15 query with suggestions and ideas.
I've attempted to (more or less) paraphrase here, so please forgive any
awkwardness. Note that this list also includes
responses from the same request as posed on the Information Literacy
Instruction listserv (ILI-L).
* One person currently working in a museum pointed out that the museum
has an emphasis on visual literacy. Likewise, visual literacy is
important for health literacy--anatomy, physiology, hand/eye
coordination, etc. This person was currently in the process of reading
Donis A. Dondis' "A Primer of Visual Literacy."
* One responder does not explicitly address visual literacy or separate
it from info literacy, but does use multimedia information sources
during IL sessions. An example of this is the use of various PowerPoint
presentations and YouTube videos to help new med students think more
critically about reasonable-seeming information.
* One person expressed great interest in the intersection of media
literacy and info literacy, considering media literacy the ability to
analyze visual elements in any source a student might encounter, from
photographs illustrating newspaper articles to web design. In first year
library classes, this person tries to address this when talking about
evaluating web sources--how visual design may result in bias, how some
elements on a page can be "red flags" for a reader.
* One responder reported using EBSCO Host's Visual Search tool during
database searching classes, and that students responded with interest.
* One person teaches a class on locating images for first year students.
This 50 minute session includes finding images in the library's book
collection (reference, exhibition catalogs, and catalogue raisonnes) and
electronic resources (ArtStor, AP, Grove, etc.). This course does not
cover analysis of images, but on the whys and wheres of image publication.
* One responder reported using many visual literacy elements in
information literacy sessions because of a personal background in art
and art history. This person highly recommends the book "The Power of
the Gaze: An Introduction to Visual Literacy."
* One person pointed us toward the Fall 2002 (29.3) Visual Resources
Association Bulletin, which contains four session papers from Paul
Glassman's visual literacy session from ARLIS 2002. The session's title
was "Is a Picture Really Worth A Thousand Words? Information Literacy
and the Visual Learner."
Thanks very much for your responses and interest,
Kristina
--
Kristina Keogh
Reference Librarian for the Arts
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
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